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Inspecting Skills for Claude

Discovers and indexes Python code in skills, enabling cross-skill imports. Use when importing functions from other skills or analyzing skill codebases.

9k tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
7
files
ships runnable scripts
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
137
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository
npx skills add https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills --skill inspecting-skills

The instruction itself

24 sections, as written by the author

Inspecting Skills

Discover Python code across skills and enable universal imports. Solves the dash-underscore naming mismatch between skill directories (e.g., browsing-bluesky) and Python imports (e.g., browsing_bluesky).

Installation

import sys
sys.path.insert(0, '/home/user/claude-skills')
from inspecting_skills import setup_skill_path, skill_import

Quick Start

Import a Skill

from inspecting_skills import skill_import

# Import by skill name (dash or underscore form)
bsky = skill_import("browsing-bluesky")
posts = bsky.search_posts("python")

# Import specific functions
search, profile = skill_import("browsing-bluesky", ["search_posts", "get_profile"])

Enable Transparent Imports

from inspecting_skills import setup_skill_path

# Configure once at session start
setup_skill_path("/home/user/claude-skills")

# Now import skills directly (underscore form)
from browsing_bluesky import search_posts, get_profile
from remembering import remember, recall

Discover Available Skills

from inspecting_skills import list_importable_skills

skills = list_importable_skills()
for s in skills:
    print(f"{s['name']} -> import {s['module_name']}")

Core Functions

Discovery

| Function | Purpose |

|----------|---------|

| discover_skill(path) | Analyze a single skill directory |

| discover_all_skills(root) | Find all skills with Python code |

| find_skill_by_name(name, root) | Find skill by name (either form) |

| skill_name_to_module(name) | Convert "browsing-bluesky" to "browsing_bluesky" |

Indexing

| Function | Purpose |

|----------|---------|

| index_skill(layout) | Extract symbols from a discovered skill |

| index_all_skills(root) | Index all skills in repository |

| generate_registry(root, output) | Create registry.json manifest |

Importing

| Function | Purpose |

|----------|---------|

| setup_skill_path(root) | Enable transparent skill imports |

| skill_import(name, symbols) | Import skill or specific symbols |

| register_skill(name, path) | Register skill at custom path |

| list_importable_skills() | List all importable skills |

Skill Layouts

Skills organize Python code in three patterns:

1. Scripts Directory

browsing-bluesky/
  SKILL.md
  __init__.py          # Re-exports from scripts/
  scripts/
    __init__.py
    bsky.py            # Main implementation

2. Root-Level Modules

remembering/
  SKILL.md
  __init__.py          # Re-exports functions
  memory.py            # Core functionality
  boot.py
  config.py

3. Simple Package

simple-skill/
  SKILL.md
  __init__.py          # Contains all code

Generating a Registry

Create a registry.json for offline symbol lookup:

from inspecting_skills import generate_registry
from pathlib import Path

registry = generate_registry(
    Path("/home/user/claude-skills"),
    output_path=Path("registry.json")
)

# Registry structure:
# {
#   "version": "1.0.0",
#   "skills": {
#     "browsing-bluesky": {
#       "module_name": "browsing_bluesky",
#       "exports": ["search_posts", "get_profile", ...],
#       "modules": [...]
#     }
#   }
# }

Indexing a Single Skill

from inspecting_skills import discover_skill, index_skill
from pathlib import Path

# Discover the skill layout
layout = discover_skill(Path("/home/user/claude-skills/remembering"))
print(f"Layout: {layout.layout_type}")
print(f"Has __init__.py: {layout.has_init}")
print(f"Python files: {[f.name for f in layout.python_files]}")

# Index symbols
index = index_skill(layout)
for module in index.modules:
    print(f"\n{module.file_path}:")
    for sym in module.symbols:
        print(f"  {sym.kind} {sym.name}{sym.signature or ''}")

Integration with tree-sitting

This skill complements tree-sitting, which extracts code structure at runtime:

  • tree-sitting: AST-derived structure via tree-sitter, multi-language
  • inspecting-skills: Runtime import support, Python-focused, dynamic discovery

Use both together:

  • tree-sitting for navigation and code review
  • inspecting-skills for actual code imports and execution

Troubleshooting

Import Errors

# If skill_import fails, check:

# 1. Skill exists and has __init__.py
from inspecting_skills import discover_skill
layout = discover_skill(Path("/path/to/skill"))
print(layout.has_init)  # Must be True for importing

# 2. Skills root is configured
from inspecting_skills import get_skills_root
print(get_skills_root())

# 3. Symbol is exported in __all__
import ast
init_code = open("/path/to/skill/__init__.py").read()
# Check for __all__ definition

Path Not Found

# Manually set skills root
from inspecting_skills import set_skills_root
set_skills_root("/home/user/claude-skills")

API Reference

SkillLayout

@dataclass
class SkillLayout:
    name: str              # "browsing-bluesky"
    path: Path             # Full path to skill directory
    layout_type: str       # "scripts" | "root" | "package" | "none"
    python_files: list[Path]
    has_init: bool         # Can be imported as package
    entry_module: str      # "browsing_bluesky"

SkillIndex

@dataclass
class SkillIndex:
    name: str              # "browsing-bluesky"
    module_name: str       # "browsing_bluesky"
    layout_type: str
    modules: list[ModuleIndex]
    exports: list[str]     # From __all__

Symbol

@dataclass
class Symbol:
    name: str              # Function/class name
    kind: str              # "function" | "class" | "method"
    signature: str | None  # "(self, x: int)"
    line: int | None       # 1-indexed
    docstring: str | None  # First line
    children: list[Symbol] # Methods for classes

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How to use it

Copy the folder

Take oaustegard/inspecting-skills from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.